From the period where BioWare (free from EA influence and able to make good games) released Baldur’s Gate (1998) to the release of Obsidian’s Neverwinter Nights 2 (2006), we have what could be called the “golden age” for digital Dungeons & Dragons adaptations. Before that, the bulk of D&D work was handled by SSI, and those games were fine, but…
Before I played Bustafellows, if you had told me that you could take the narrative qualities of noir fiction and pair it with the otome genre, I wouldn’t have believed you. As a genre, otome isn’t quite the “doe-eyed romance and frivolity for girls” genre that those who haven’t played…
Ever found yourself looking at the state of video games and going:…
“Oh, great,” your little guide through the minigames of 100 in 1…
The release of Atari 50 last year represented a change in mindset about how retro compilations are packaged up. I hope so, anyway. Including development documents, timelines, video interviews, and other materials made Atari 50 essential, even if those classics aren’t really your kind of games (as is the case…
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Softstar is Taiwan’s answer to Square Enix, and Sword and Fairy and Xuan-Yuan Sword are like Taiwan’s Final Fantasy. Both properties are huge in their native language, but have struggled to get much of a foothold outside of Chinese-speaking territories. Publisher, eastasiasoft, is trying to establish them worldwide, however, and…
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It has been seven years since the last proper Dragon Quest Monsters title (Joker 3, back on the 3DS), and that one wasn’t released in English. It has been 12 years since the last Dragon Quest Monsters game was released in English (Joker 2, on the DS). It was worth…
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SteamWorld has been kicking around for 13 years now, when the humble little SteamWorld Tower Defense landed on the Nintendo DSi via DSiWare. It has become a surprisingly robust if generally unheralded IP since then, dipping into genres as broad as RPG, XCOM clone and Mr Driller-like. SteamWorld Build is…
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While I wasn’t a big fan of the port of Gothic to the Nintendo Switch, I do remain a big fan of the developer, Piranha Bytes, and more generally the “Eurojank” RPGs that Piranha Bytes has been such a cornerstone of. The Switch port of Gothic II has been a…
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My Time at Sandrock is a very entertaining game that should never have been released on the Nintendo Switch. Or, I should say, the problems with the game better be exclusive to the Switch and a consequence of the hardware and not, simply, poor development, because otherwise the game should…
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At a very quick glance, Howl looks like an intriguing tactics game with a gorgeous, sombre art style. What it is more like is a turn-based Chu Chu Rocket… just not as charming, appealing, or worthwhile. The protagonist of Howl is a deaf prophet. Your goal is to help navigate…
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Super Mario RPG is an all-time classic. Ask people to list the top 20 SNES games of all time and you’re almost certain to see this one in the mix somewhere. A quirky collaboration between Nintendo and Square Enix to apply some light Final Fantasy qualities to the iconic plumber,…
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I’ll just get this warning out of the way up-front: There’s an explicit depiction of an apparent suicide in the first ten minutes of Virche Evermore -ErroR: Salvation-. It’s by no means the only content warning found in this incredibly dark visual novel. I overview some of the (many) other…
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You would think fashion was an easy concept for video games. I mean, sure there won’t be visceral bloodletting (though a catwalk fighting game would be amazing…), but fashion lends itself to collectability, which is how many games keep players invested, and who doesn’t like playing dress-up with pretty characters?…
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